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It seems a no-brainer. If we want to save our Oregon forests, then we need to stop our demand for wood.
According to the National Association of Home Builders, more than 90% of new single-family homes built in the U.S. are wood-framed. Put another way, 959,000 wood-framed houses were built in the U.S. in 2023 alone. That’s a heck of a lot of wood.
Now the Trump administration needs even more wood, and plans to eliminate the Roadless Area Conservation Rule that puts nearly 45 million acres of undeveloped public forestland in danger of future logging. Approximately one-third of that public land is in Oregon and Washington. Why more roads on public lands? Well, they bring more commercial logging and mining of natural resources, which leads to the destruction of our beautiful public lands.
With a forest area of 29.7 million acres, Oregon is one of the nation’s largest lumber producers. That’s a lot of wood. So how do we decrease our demand for it? When you look at the historic average of 30-year fixed mortgage rates, they have steadily increased from 2.96% in 2021 to 6.9% today.
When you look at Weyerhaeuser, the largest wood producer in the U.S., its stock price has decreased nearly 40% over the last five years. Why is that? Because construction of single-family homes in the U.S. has also decreased. Fewer people can afford houses. Wood is expensive. And higher interest rates equals less construction, which equals less wood sold.
But that won’t help much when the interest rates go back down. So the question still remains: How do we decrease our appetite for wood and retain the last 5% of our remaining natural forests?
The answer is simple. We need different structural materials for building houses. Materials such as bamboo for flooring and support that have high durability. Recycled steel with exceptional stability for framing. Rammed earth for walls that have zero transportation waste. And earthbags that are disaster resistant. GreenCitizen has produced a list of 20 sustainable building materials for an eco-friendly home.
If you look at bamboo for example, it grows fast, reaching maturity in just three to five years. It has a tensile strength superior to steel. It sequesters more carbon than many tree species. Above all, it grows well in temperate rainforest regions such as the Pacific Northwest. And it’s inexpensive to grow in such a climate. It would be safer than logging, which has the fourth-highest job fatality rate, yet still ensure regional employment and economic gain.
Another factor in decreasing wood demand is eliminating the over-sold myth of the “American Dream” of homeownership. In the U.S., the homeownership rate was 65% in 2024. Yet, according to another National Association of Home Builders statistic, nearly 60% of U.S. households are unable to afford a $300,000 home.
The national median price of a new home in March was $387,400, and that of an existing home $440,600 (an all-time high).
Yet banks still want us to own homes so we pay the interest on our mortgages. Realtors hoping for large commissions want us to own homes. Mortgage companies, insurance companies, counties who need tax revenue want us to own homes. Reality TV wants us to become billionaires and own homes with five bathrooms and an infinity pool.
But do we really need to own or live in large spaces? If you look at midcentury pre-war or post-war housing, the bulk of U.S. families used much less space. In 1950 for example, the average floor area of a new single-family house was 983 square feet. In 2026, the average size is 2,299 square feet, the second-highest average in the world. Less owning, smaller domiciles, and ethical, sustainable living seems a lot easier than pulling your hair out each month over trying to pay your mortgage, your fire/hurricane/flood insurance, and rising property taxes.
Oh, and it saves forests, too.
Wood is beautiful. Wood looks good on your floor and on your deck and on the side of your house. But how about the beauty of wood left alone and wild and untouched in the forest? Or an ancient tree that is 300 years old with a rich diversity of undergrowth and wildlife below its canopy? Perhaps we need to rethink our core living space values. Use what we need, but not more. Or change what we use.
In his landmark essay, the early conservationist Aldo Leopold proposed an ethical and symbiotic relationship between humans and nature.
“A thing is right,” he wrote, “when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”
Caring for nature is not just for our wilderness. It’s for the nature in our parks, along our creeks and rivers, and around our sidewalks, streets and front lawns.
So here’s to keeping interest rates high. Here’s to saving ancient forests. And here’s to caring for our endangered species and roadless public lands. Let’s live frugally and thoughtfully. In the end, nobody really owns anything anyway. And renting a small, happy space might just be a simple, ethical and inexpensive way to live.
